Monday, January 5, 2009

Raft of Dead Monkeys




"Who the hell are Raft of Dead Monkeys?" That's the reaction you're most likely to get if you ask a record store employee or damn near anyone about this band. Sure, they've got a page on Wikipedia... but these guys are a mostly-forgotten gem from the late 90's & early 2000's. The band consisted predominantly of members from 90 Pound Wuss, Roadside Monument and Suffering & the Hideous Thieves. They released an e.p. called DBM on Make Believe Recordings in 1999, an album by the name of Thoroughlev on Burnout Records in 2001 & had one song on the 'Is It... Dead?' Seattle hardcore compilation which was released by Crash Rawk, rocknroleplay & Sub Poop records in the year of our lord 2001. They also had an unreleased album called "Joey the Pigfucker" which I believe (based on the liner notes inside of DBM) was originally going to be called "Hot Pants College" - though a song by that name appears on Joey the Pigfucker. Raft basically had two different musical periods: DBM era Raft was more punk, while Thoroughlev was a bit more like Roadside Monument or even Sharks Keep Moving, kind of indie/math rock & not quite as abrasive. Joey the Pigfucker shows them merging the two sounds. I just learned that John Spalding, who played in both Raft of Dead Monkeys & 90 Pound Wuss, passed away on November 23, 2008 from cancer. There is a fund set up in his name at Bank of America. It is "John D Spalding Medical Fund" you can go in to any Bank of America and make a deposit. All funds will go to the family to help pay expenses.
If you've got any more specific info about RODM, have any memories, or if you have problems with the links please leave a comment.
DBM
Joey the Pigfucker
Thoroughlev

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